The powers of Congress, the constitutionality of its acts on reconstruction, alarming tendency of the Seymour democracy : speech of Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter, at Chicago, Ill., Aug. 12, 1868

THE POWEES OF CONGRESS

The Constitutionality of its Acts on Reconstruction
ALARMING TENDENCY OF THE SEYMOUR DEMOCRACY.

SPEECH

OF

on. Matt. Hi Carpenter

IT CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST 12th, 1868.

fublisi-:ed by the union republican congre<

I0NAL COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mb. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle-
men : The occurrence of the Presidential
campaign calls out the American people
to the examination of the principles and
the measures which have marked the ad-
ministration for the preceding term. An-
other Presidential election is on foot—
another gathering of the American people
from Maine to California, from the lakes
tot&e Gulf, which may now be seen in the
United States, for the same purpose. The
precise practical creation is whether we
shall support General Grant or Governor
Seymour for President of the United States;
[cries of u Grant ! Grant !"] and this ques-
tion we are to settle, not as men-worship.
pers or parasites, but by reason and judg-
ment, and as American citizens, conscious
of the responsibilities which rest upon us
in this great choice. Glorious as Grant is
in his past record, if he stood to-day — I do
not say with the party, but upon a plat-
form and principles detrimental to the best

interests of the Republic— pledged to over-
throw all the results of the war; pledged to
encourage and comfort rebellion, or what
little rebellion there is left; or, if we could
possibly imagine such a transformation, if
Governor Seymour stood to-day on a plat-
form which would secure us the fruits of
our victory, and which would give to us
lasting and permanent tranquillity, then
tiiere is no doubt that the American people
'would, as they have for the last six years,
through all the trials and bloodshed of the
war, support the principles which are em-
bodied in their hearts, and dear as their
.life, [great cheers,] although it would pro-
bably be equally difficult for them to deter-
mine whether they would say that the p*.
triotic Grant had left their ranjki, or that
the unpatriotic Seymour had left their
standard. But, by examining the platform
upon which these respective candidates
stand, it will be found that each is true to
the principles which characterized him

during the war. It will be found that
Grant is struggling now to secure the fruits
of the victories which he won, and that
Seymour is to-day endeavoring, as far as
it is still possible to do, to thwart the object
which the Government had in suppressing
the rebellion— to secure to the rebels, as
much as possible, what they have lost by
the result of this contest, and is pursuing
precisely the same line of policy to-day that
he intrigued for during the war.

■-THE DECLARATIONS OP THE DEMOCRATIC
PLATFORM.

ITlie two political parties "have made
up," as the lawyers would say, "the issues,
and sent them down to the country for
trial." One convention in Chicago and
the other in New York have not only se-
lected their candidates, their standard-bear-
ers, but they have promulgated their plat-
forms, or their principles. There is no
doubt that both parties are seriously in
dead earnest in the issues which they have
-made. We get some little light as to the
platform of the Democratic Convention
from the speech which was made by W<ide
Hampton afcer his return to his constitu-
ents. He says that he was on the Com-
mittee on Resolutions^ He says that he
had prepared a set for himself; but found
that they couldn't ba adopted. He listened
to those which had been prepared by others,
and the Democrats on that committee came
around him and assured him that they were
with him, to the utmost of his wishes; that
they would do all in their power to give the
South back "the Constitution as it was "^
before the war, and he contented himself
with simply moving an amendment to one
resolution which declared the governments
of the States, which had been reconstructed
under the auspices and patronage of Con-
gress, to be unconstitutional, revolutionary,
and void. He says this announcement was
met with enthusiastic cheers by the com-
mittee, and the Democrats pledged them-
selves to him that they would go to the ut-
most of their declaration. What is the
utmost of that declaration? We hear so
much said about what is constitutional and
unconstitutional that we arc in danger ^ of
losing all the significance of that declaration
of the Democratic party. If those govern-
ments which are now existing in the ten

»uth are un-

constitutional and void, and if these Demo
crats mean to carry that declaration into
practical operation, the result is that these
governments are to be swept away. Another
revolution is to sweep over the South ;
anarchy and bloodshed, and another four
years of wasting and ruin, is to follow as
the result of that revolution accomplished
in the South. But the Democrats have
cloaked this matter under the plausible pre-
text that these acts of Congress are uncon-
stitutional, and the Republican party, in its
convention has espoused and adopted and
promised to support the reconstruction
policy of Congress. The Democrats have
appealed to the reverence our people feel
for the sacred instrument, the Constitution,
to cloak and cover their design of revolu-
tion again in the South, and thus it throws
fairly upon us the burden of vindicating
the constitutionality of the reconstruction
policy of Congress. Now, I am aware how
difficult and how uninteresting it is to dis-
cuss such a question in a popular audience
like this, in the open air, amid the thunder-
ing and confusion of a great city like
Chicago. I know ho w easy it is for a pub-
lic speaker to spend his apportioned thirty
minutes or hour in cracking jokes which
will create a good feeling in the crowd and
react upon the speaker. But the misery of
our Republican speakers is that the mem-
bers of the Republican party all have heads
on them. [Laughter and applause. A
voice— "Bully ! that's so P] They all
think, and read, and reason, [a voice—
"That's the difference,"] and they demand
of any speaker who is to occupy fifteen
minutes of their time that he shall discuss
some principle, shall come to some doc-
trine in the issues of the war.

CONSTITUTIONALITY OP THE ACTION OP
CONGRESS.

The only real issue made by the parties;
the only doctrinal difference in the two
platforms which arises to anything like
first-class importance, is that which relates
to the constitutionality of the reconstruc-
tion policy of Congress; This little squab-
Die about paying off our debts— this little
question of universal suffrage, and a few
other things, very important themselves,
are questions which relate to the adminis-
tration of the Government after you have
got a government to be administered. But

the great question rises above that — which
involves peace and war, which touches the
life of the nation, and touches our exist-
ence a3 one people under the Constitution
of the United States; and I propose this
evening, because I have been requested to
do so, and because I think it important in
itself, to discuss for a short time, as well as
I am able, under all the difficulties of this
situation, the question of the constitution-
ality of these reconstruction laws. I can-
not make such an argument fanny nor
amusiDg, but I will try to state clearly and
distinctly the grounds" upon which we de-
fend that legislation. To do this we must
inquire into the facts of the case. What
is the situation of the things to which Con-
gress was compelled to apply its reconstruc-
Fion policy ? But, to save words, let us
take the State of Georgia as illustrating
the whole principle, for what is true of one
State is of course true of two or three out
of all. Georgia was one of the original
thirteen States, and entered this Union by
adopting a constitution. She had a State
government organized in harmony with
the Constitution of the United States, un-
der a State constitution which required all
her officers to swear to support the Consti-
tution of the United States. That govern-
ment continued in existence, as we all
know, down to 1800 or 1861, when the ma-
jority of her people, having determined to
throw off their allegiance to the Govern-
ment of the United States, and levy war, if
need be, to make that declaration good,
and to make Georgia an independent na-
tion, organized a new State government in
Georgia, and that government went into
practical operation, and was supported by
the people during the entire continuance
of the war. Now, if those leaders, afcer
they determined to levy this war, had called
a convention and framed a new State gov-
ernment, with new officers, and had levied
war upon the old State government of
Georgia and supplanted it, and then had
entered into the Southern confederacy and
levied war upon the United States, there
would be no difference of opinion in this
assertion that the government wmich had
come to exist by that proceeding in Georgia
was no government in the Union of the
United States. And yet, in a legal, consti-
tutional sense, the people of Georgia did
what was precisely equivalent to this. They
called a constitutional convention, and
they took the old constitutional Stite gov-
ernment, changing it in every essential par-
ticular which was essential to its existence
as a State government. Instead of requir-
ing its officers to swear to support the Con-
stitution of the United States, they require
them to swear to overthrow that Constitu-
tion. They severed in every particular
every cord and bond which bound them as
a State or community to the Constitution
and Union of the United States. By so

doing they created, in loyal contemplation,
a new government, as much as they would
in the case which I have supposed of their
calling a convention and framing a new
government with new officers. The gov-
ernment which they created by taking the
old constitution and moulding it to their
views, was no government which had been
in the Union from the adoption of the Con-
stitution. It was no constitutional govern-
ment in any sense, but only an organiza-
tion in deadly antagonism to the Constitu-
tion of the United States, and under that
constitution the people of Georgia organ-
ized and gave their voluntary allegiance
to that State government, went into the
Southern confederacy and levied war upon
the United States.

THE SOUTHERN STATE GOVERNMENTS.

Well, after a while, the wTar came out
just as every man who believes God sits on
His throne, and prefers truth to falsehood,
justice to injustice, liberty to slavery,
might have predicted it would come out.
It came out with the triumph of all good
things over all bad things. [Loud ap-
plause.] And our armies swept every-
thing before them, and demolished every
citadel and stronghold of treason and re-
bellion, and they planted our flag in old
and time-honored places after sweeping
away the rebel armies, and after sweeping
the rebel States they swept away every-
thing that was part and parcel of rebellion,
every . instrumentality, every agency, and
every means by which traitors had sought
to levy war upon the Government; and
these revolutionary State governments
were the principal agency for that war.
Now, then, what was the consequence ?
They had had a government in the Union
from the organization of the Union down
to 1800. Tney had destroyed that. They
had set up in its place a revolutionary,
illegal, unconstitutional government, whic!^
had been in existence until Grant swep
them away. Then they will be wither
any State government whatever. The oi-
government they had destroyed, and th.
new government we h id destroyed. The*
were without any government. [ Applause. ]
Now, what was their condition ? The so>
of Georgia was still a part of the dominio:.
of the United States; the people of Georgi
were still citizens of the United States
They had thrown off no part of the duu
which they owed to the Union. To
Union had lost or forfeited no part of i;
power over thorn. They were, still fnv
ther, so many square miles, aud so man:
Americm citizens, without a local goveri
ment. Now, manifestly, the first step afte-
the war ended was for some one to estab-
lish a local government there. This bring
us to the quesdon — who shall do thai .
The Democrats say: ''The people of r,L
State shall do ir.'v The Democrats say

that the people of Georgia had got their
hand in in making governments; they had
experimented upon the subject [derisive
laughter;] they had a peculiar and special
knowledge. [Laughter.] They had de-
molished the old Union State governments,
and they had created a revolutionary gov-
ernment; they had seen that go to the wall;
they had built a Southern Confederacy,
and over that they flung out its flaunting
rag in rivalry with the Star-splangled Ban-
ner of America; and they should form this
State government for Georgia.

THE TWO THEORIES OF SECESSION.

Now, there are two theories, one or the
other of which must be true. The Southern
theory of the situation is that the edict of
3ecession passed by Georgia, took her out
of the Union and out of the limits ol our
Federal dominions. Upon this theory, when
we conquered that State her soil and her
people were as subject to the absolute will
of the conqueror as would be the soil and
people on conquered Mexico or any other
foreign power subdued by our army. If this
was their condition, then it was not for them
to say whether they would have a State gov-
ernment or not; it wa3 not for them to say
whether they would ever belong to the
Union or not as an independent State. It
was for us to say. It was for the conqueror
to dictate terms to the conquered — not for
the conquered to dictate terms to the con-
queror. ["You are right."] Then, upon
their theory, Georgia had no more right to
establish a State government, to come back
into the Union, than the people of Mexico
had a right to demand admission into the
Union when Scott planted his standard on
the halls of the Montezumas. Again, the
other theory is — the Northern theory is —
the constitutional theory is — that the ordi-
nance of secession was a nullity; that it
was no protection to the rebels of
the South; and, although we chose, as
we had a right to do, to exercise as
against them belligerent rights— the rights
and power of a sovereign over his
rebel citizens — yet they acquired by the
ordinance of secession no privilege and no
protection. What is the result of that doc-
irine? The result of that doctrine is that
when the war ended they were so many
subdued and conquered traitors, taken in
* he crime, taken with the blood upon their
garments. [Sensation.] They have forfeited
life, liberty, property, civil government,
and everything that belongs to a man.
[Great applause; cries of ''That's so !"
You have got ill"] Upon this theory, very
clearly, the people of Georgia had no right
to form a government and say it had a
right to come b%ek into the Union. Now,
I don't care which theory the Democrats
take for the purposes of this argument, be-
cause either one cuts their own throat from
^■aiM^oear^rGreat applause and laughter.]

There is, then, an end to tbis pretext that
Georgia could settle this question. Rebels
may say when war shall begsa, where it
shall begin, how it shall begin, how it shall
be managed; but the Government must say
how it shall end, [cheers,] and what shall
be the condition of the conquered. ["That's
the idea." Applause.] It is about time,
after hundreds and thousands of lives have
been sacrificed— after we have baptized and
fertilized that rebel soil with the best blood
of the land — it is about time that some man
had the courage and the nerve, and the
good sense, to stand up and talk the truth
upon this subject. [Sensation, applause,
and cheers.] It is clear, then, that Georgia
could not reconstruct a government with-
out our consent. Now, the only party
interested is the Government of the United
States. They, as rebel States, could
not do it. The General Government must
do it.

POWER TO RESTORE THE STATE GOVERN-
MENTS.

And, then, we come to consider the fur-
ther question: How? By what depart-
ment, and through what department and
agency shall the United States act to the
end of establishing these State governments?
And this brings us to the only question
upon which any of the departments of the
Government have ever held different opin-
ions. The Supreme Court of the United
States, the President of the United States,
the Congress of the United States, have all
concurred in saying that the result of the
war was to leave Georgia without any civil
government, and that the people of Geor-
gia were powlerless as a government in the
place of the one which they had destroyed.
The Supreme Court of the United States
decided what necessarily leads to this con-
clusion, in the prize cases decided in 1862,
when they decided that the people of Geor-
gia, without reference to their private con-
duct, were to be regarded as public ene-
mies, but, although they were to be regarded
as public enemies, they were not the less
traitors to the Government of the United
States.

ASSUMPTION BY MR. JOHNSO'X

Andrew Johnson had taken up this sub-
ject, and treated it with the fullness and
the wisdom that is peculiar to himself. He
had said, in his proclamaiion, which he
issued immediately after the surrender of
Lee and Johnson, that this rebellion had,
in its progress, swept away all civil gov-
ernment in the rebel States, and that the
Government of the United States owed it
as a duty to that section of the country to
establish local State governments there,
and he, Andrew Joiinson, (being the
United States,) undertook to do it. And
he did it — "in a horn." [Cries of "And
he did it with a horn."] Yes, Doth. I
accept the amendment. He did it both

Ways Tho President of the United States,
as such, clearly had no authority over the
subject. Our people, when they framed
our Government, were jealous of the ex-
ecutive power— that is, the kingly power.
Our forefathers were Englishmen. They
remembered well the contests that had
ctained the soil of England with blood
in the struggle to wrest rights
and principles from the Crown and
deposit them for safe use and prac-
tical exercise with the Parliament of
England, and when they framed our Con-
stitution they determined to limit and cir-
cumscribe and bind down this ever-en-
croaching Executive power within very
narrow limits. There is no danger of op-
pression of the people by Congress. The
danger is always of oppression and usurpa-
tion coming from that power which is cen-
tralized in one man's bosom. There is no
danger that Congress, rent asunder as it is,
and must ever be, by cliques and factions,
will ever consent to oppress the people, be-
cause they can never agree among them-
selves which clique shall be the oppressors.
Mr. Fessenden will have his little circle of
friends ; Judge Trumbull will have his ;
Judge Howe will have his. And so there
are a dozen cliques in the Senate, and the
danger is that they won't be able to get to-
gether and do some things that ought to be
done some lime. [Great laughter and ap-
plause.] Not so with the President of the
United States. That great rash act of his
which brought on his impeachment — the
removal of the Secretary of War, for no of-
fence except for differing from him in opin-
ion, and differin g from him in this particular,
that the Secretary of War thought fit to act
according to his own convictions, accord-
ing to the Constitution, and with the party
and with the friends who placed him in
power — that rash act of the Presi-
dent of the United States was the
result of no deliberation with anybody.
No Cabinet officer knew anything about it.
Neither Seward nor his chum, Randall,
ever dreamed that the thing was to be done.
It was the result of a consultation between
Andrew Johnson and his demijohn alone,
[great applause and laughter,] and, when
the purpose was formed, it was executed by
an order written at his own table at night.
No other man had to be got to sign it, no
other ambitious clique had to be conciliated.
[Applause.] This 'I have alluded to only
to illustrate the fact and the theory that
freedom is in no danger of overthrow from
a Congress, or a Parliament, or any other
multitudinous deliberative body. It is
always in danger of encroachment and
overthrow from power which is consoli-
dated and may be exercised upon the volition
of a single man. So our fathers, when they
framed the Constitution, laid ■ upon that
office the firmest and the strongest bond.
The President of the United States shall be

the Commander in-Chief of the army and
aavy;he may grant pardons and rcprieves;he
may receive ambassadors and other foreign
ministers; ho may commission officers of
the United States when properly appointed,
and he shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed. These ate the powers
which are vested in the President, indepen-
dent of Congress and cooperation with
Congress. Now, it is manifest that none
of these powers include that of reconstruct-
ing a State government, and when Andrew
Johnson undertook to do so he committed
a usurpation upon the rights of the people,
and upon the Constitution of the United
States, which would have brought a mon-
arch of England to the block. There
was no pretence or color of law in his
whole proceedings. He called a constitu-
tional convention to frame governments,
declared the qualification of voters, and the
qualifications ofthose who should be elected
to the convention. But suppose those voters
who were not qualified — suppose those came
to the convention who were not entitled to
a seat under his proclamation — what was
the consequence? He could not puuish, for
the simple reason that he could not make
law. His whole proceedings were unau-
thorized, and necessarily and consequently
void. But as to the power of the President,
I need not push a step further or discuss it
at length, because the Democrats them-
selves concede he has no power; and as far
as a discussion of this question as a part of
our platform is concerned, it is sufficient to
rest it there. They admit this point.

THE POWERS OP CONGEJESS.

The question then recurs, where is the
power of the General Government to frame
governments in these rebel States ? And,
in the first place, the general proposition
may be laid down, that if the power is in
the Government of the United States at all,
and is not conferred by 'express words upon
the President, or some other officer of the
Government, then it is surely vested in
Congress; because the Constitution pro-
vides that Congress shall have the power to
make all laws necessary and proper to carry
into execution the power conferred upon
Congress, and all other powers conferred
upon the United States, or any department
or officer thereof; consequently, if the
power of framing these State governments
reposes in the General Government, and not
in the people of Georgia, and, as it is con-
ceded, every man can settle the question
for himself for thirty minutes' reading, that
the Constitution does not locate this power
in the President, or any other specific offi-
cer, or in the courts, then it follows neces-
sarily that this power of the Government is
to be exercised through the power of Con-
gress, to make laws to carry that power
into execution. But I do not propose to
rest here upon this mere general pro-

6

position, although it is entirely conclu-
sive. There are other provisions of the Con-
stitution, and other distinct grounds upon
which this power may he safely rested.
The Constitution provides that Congress
may admit "new States." Now, what is
the meaning of admitting a "new State,"
and what is a State to be admitted ? Half
the confusion that the public labor under
regarding this subject has arisen from the
fact that the word "State" in the Constitu-
tion is used with various meanings. Some-
times it is used in a geographical sense,
and sometimes in a political sense. For
instance, when the Constitution provides
that any man who commits a crime shall
be tried in the "State" where it was com-
mitted, it means a geographical State, called
the State of New York, or of Georgia, &c.
When it says a "State" may be a party to
any suit in the Supreme Court of the
United Sates, it means a " State govern-
ment,," or a corporation, which is created
for that purpose. Take, for instance, Illi-
nois. In a geographical sense, Illinois
was always in the Union ; her soil was
always Federal dominion; her people were
always citizens of the United States. But
the State of Illinois, which was admitted
into the Union by an act of Congress,
means the corporation or State government
which was organized by the people for
that purpose. Therefore, when the Con-
stitution says that Congress shall provide
for the admission of "new States," it means
"new State governments."

WHAT IS A NEW STATE ?

The Democrats say, "This is conceded,
but Georgia is not a new State. Georgia was
one of the original thirteen, one of the old
States, and clearly that provision of the
Constitution does not apply to your case."
But, my friend, I have already sail that to
admit a State means to admit a State gov-
ernment, and when the rebels of the South
destroyed the State government which had
been in the Union, and put in its place a
rebel State government which never was
in the Union, and when the armies of the
United States swept that way and left
Georgia without any government what
ever, then, when a government shall be
organized there, to be admitted again into
the Union and to be restored to the Fed-
eral rights, that government thus formed
is a new government, as much a3 though
the people of Georgia had hever had a gov-
ernment whatever. What difference can
it make, for instance, with this power of
Congress to admit a State government and
to frame a government, whether the people
who are to be admitted have once had a
government which they have destroyed,
or whether they never had a government.
For instance, we have west cf the Rucky
mountains so many square miles of ter-
ritory, and so many citizens of the
United States born in the country.

We say, "Those people are our peo-
ple, that soil is our soil, and they are en-
titled to our protection." The Govern-
ment of the United' States establishes a
Territorial government there and protects
them until such time as they come to a
proper, condition to be admitted as a State,
in full communion, into the Union. Now,
this power and jurisdiction cf Congress to
do this thing grows out of this fact, simply
—that if our citizens are dwelling in a com-
pact community upon our soil, without lo-
cal government, (it is of no consequence
how that state of things is brought about—
whether it is because they moved there and
never had a government, or because they
have been th^re and once had a govern-
ment and destroyed it;) if they are our
people, dwelling upon our territory, and
have no government, the United States is
bound to put a civil government there,

[At this point the grand torchlight pro-
cession riled into the square, and the
speaker suspended his remarks for a few
moments, resuming as follows:]

I have forgotten precisely -where I was
addressing the world before the rest of
mankind came in; but I believe I had got
through with saying what I proposed to in
reference to the power of Congress to ad-
mit new States; and claimed that that cov-
ered the entire ground, and gave Congress
the constitutional power to reconstruct a
State government for Georgia.

A REPUBLICAN POEM OE GOVERNMENT.

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that
we admit what the Democrats claim, that
Georgia never was out of the Union, and
that her territory and people remaining in
the Union — as we conceded they always
did, because they could not get out— that
therefore sue is to be regarded as a Stato of
the Union. The Constitution provides that
the United States shall guarantee to every
State a republican form of government.
Now, if Georgia was not a State-of the
Union she was a State without any gov-
ernment whatever; consequently she had
no republican form of State government;
and Congress was called upon in its ca-
pacity of legislating and executing that
power to take the proper steps to put a re-
publican form of State government in
Georgia. *rhi3 guarantee of the Constitu-
tion was intended to secure to the Union
a republican State government for such
State, without reference to the wishes of
the people of a particular State. If New
York, for instance, to-morrow should call
a convention, and change her form of gov-
ernment from a republican to a monarchical
government, it would be the duty of Congress
to interfere, because the Constitution makes
it the duty of the United States to see to
it that there is a republican form of govern-
ment for them in New York ; and it' he
should call a convention to abolish the form
of government, aud resolve herself back

into lic-r original condition, so much soil,
and so many people without any govern-
ment whatever, Con.cress, in this case,
would be compelled to take particular steps
to put a State government there for the
State of New York, because the Constitu-
tion has imposed this duty upon the Gene-
ral Government; and the Constitution has
provided that Congress shall pass all laws
necessary to execute all the powers which
the Constitution has conferred upon the
United States. This has been so frequently
decided by the Supreme Court of the United
States — so clearly has it been announced by
Chief Justice Gardner, especially in the
Rhode Island case, as it is called, reported
in the 7th of Howard,, where he distinctly
lays down the doctrine that it is the pro-
vince of Congress, and Congress alone, to
determine whether the form of government
is republican. It must also have the power
to say whether there is a government there
at all, because without so doing it cannot de-
termine whether a particular form of govern-
ment is republican or not— and that this
duty rests upon Congress — and when it acts
in the premises its decision is binding upon
every part of the Government, and cannot
be questioned in court. This doctrine is so
clearly and fully decided that there is no
necessity of argument beyond referring you
to those decisions. In "two or three cases
they have been before the Supreme Court,
aud have been settled beyond dispute, and
upon these three grounds that I have men-
tioned; first, that the power is clearly iu
the Congress of the United States, and is
not conferred specifically upon any other
department; secondly, the power in Con-
gress to admit new State governments
covers this State, and authorizes Congress
to organize a government for the purpose
of being admitted; and thirdly, the duty
which the Constitution imposes upon Con-
gress to take care that at all times there
shall be a republican State govern-
ment for each State — from that ground
alone the power is clearly deducible
— from these three facts — from these
three separate sources we derive the
power of Congress to organize State gov-
ernments for the rebellious States, which
were left at the end of the war without form
of government whatever. I have proposed
this evening to confine myself strictly to the
constitutional power of Congress, and shall
leave for another occasion, perhaps at
Galena, on Friday evening, to discuss the
ether independent question, of how wisely
and how well Congress has exercised that
constitutional power. This is a distinct
subject — too full to be spoken of here to-
nigtit uuder the circumstances, and at the
foot of a speech. I shall leave the subject
of reconstruction, then, with this imper-
fect discussion of the constitutional power
of Congress. That is the only issue which
the Democratic platform makes on the sub-

ject. They do not question the details of
their acts. They struck the death blow to
the system kj saying that the whole pro-
ceedings are unconstitutional, and therefore
void. If I have succeeded in convincing
you that Congress has the constitutional
power, my object has been accomplished,
and that was all I intended to do when I
came upon the platform.

A CONCLUDING WORD TO THE FENIANS.

I have been invited to come here to Chi-
cago and address the Republican Fenian
Club of this State. As the campaign is
thickening at home, and I shall probably
be detained there until November, and it
is doubtful whether I shall have the oppor-
tunity of coming here again, I shall say a
few words to the Fenians. I am not as
drunk as Blair was when he said, uFinne-
gans, I am with you," [laughter,] but I
have a few words which I wish to say to
you on the subject of Fenians, and upon
several of your duties as Fenians to the
Government of the United States Now,
it is too late in the day, it is too far ad-
vanced iuJJJhe history of the world, for any
man or Q* of men to hope to accomplish
great results, unless they have some theory,
some philosophy of the subject which can
stand an examination and be countenanced
by the world. What is the philosophy of
Fenianism? Suppose a Fenian were asked
to-night here why Ireland should be free,
and why Irishmen should govern Ireland.
He could not give any other answer to that
question than to say that every nation
should be free, and that the freemen of
every nation should control its destiny.
That is the philosophy of Fenian-
ism, if it has any philosophy. That
is the corner-stone of the claim which
Ireland makes to-day for an independent
government for Ireland. Now, the ques-
tion is, what can any Irishman do in the
United States to further that end, which is
so near his heart? and if I were to give him
a word of caution to-night, without charg-
ing him one cent for the advice, I would
tell him not to make a raid upon Canada.
The only result of that would be to put Pat
in jail, and not free Ireland. There is,
nevertheless, much that he may accomplish.
He may accomplish it by framing a public
sentiment for thsnvorld with that great party
in the United States to-day which is pledged
in all its policy and all its measures to ad-
vance and faithfully apply the doctrines of
the Declaration of Independence. Such
has become the intercourse of the world,
by means of the telegraph, that the senti-
ment of one nation is known and felt in
another. The voice of the nation is heard
all round the globe. If you can unite here
with that party and give it an ascendency;
if you can strengthen its hands; if you
can contribute -to make the Declaration
of Independence a > practical fact; then

you have done what a man. may do, and
all that a man may do, to form the public
sentiment of the world; and when the
public sentiment of the world is formed
then you will see its practical fruits being
borne all over the world. If a mean, dirty
scallawag comes into a community to live,
one or two things always follows ; he either
has to reform and conform to the condition
of things around him, or he has to leave.
Now nations are assuming toward each
other precisely that relation, and the opin-
ion of one nation upon the others is grow-
ing to be precisely what the opinion of one
individual is upon another. Join your
hands, then, and join your voices with the
party in the United States which is pledged
to see every man free. There are certain
principles to be ruled by if you are to reach
any practical results. If you want to have
sunlight in Chicago you must consent to
have sunlight in Springfield. If you
want to be free yourself you must
consent that every one shall be free.
If you want to see Ireland free you
must consent that England shallbe free, and
Germany free, and France free^nd every
other nation as free as yourselv^^ are here
in the United States. If you would exer-
cise this power, as citizens of the United
States^ in shaping public sentiment, you

must act practically in the things you can
reach; you must make liberty a practical
fact all around you; and whether the man
is a German or a Frenchman, an English-
man or a Yankee, an Indian or a negro,
whatever his rights are before the law, you
must respect them. In this way you are
doing something for the down-trodden all
over the world. You are uniting your
voices to the chorus of the nation that will
be heard far over the ocean, in every strong-
hold and in every dungeon of despotism.
[Great applause. ] That is your privilege;
that is your duty, good, honest Fenians.
[Loud applause,' and cries of "Go on."]
It is one thing for you to say you are will-
ing for me to go on, and another for me to
have the strength. I am in very much the
condition that General Cass was in when
he was invited to discuss the Oak Harbor
improvements — there is too much noise
and confusion. I cannot talk down this
whole tumultuous multitude. I cannot
answer these rockets. I cannot, in other
words, talk down all creation. The multi-
tude is too great for the speaker, and I am
completely exhausted, and you will have to
excuse me.

The speaker retired amid great applause
and cheers.

Chronicle Print.

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